Category Archives: Exposition

There are days I feel like a part of the background. Nothing important, just a prop. The extra to someone else’s movie. Depending on my mood, I can be content with that.

Then there are the days when I feel the camera on me. I’m the star, everyone is watching. Those days it goes as deep as having my own theme music. It’s definitely a John Williams score going on in my head. Something cool like Indy or Superman. Yesterday was one of those days.

Put simply?

I got shit done.

First, I got back on the running routine. My expectation was low, maybe more of a walk. Instead I was able to run my route exactly as if I hadn’t skipped two weeks. No complaints from the meat sack I call a body, either. In fact I believe it energized the rest of my day.

The whole things felt like a domino effect. From there I took on the laborious chore of cleaning the carpets. With a borrowed carpet cleaner and heavy helping of elbow grease, I cleaned the shit of them. (Not literally. Let me be clear. There was no shit on our carpets. The dog is better trained than that.) Follow that up with a productive get together with my Writer’s Group, and I have to call the day a Win.

So when the day was done, I felt great. My carpets looked and smelled great. And, my blogging buddies and I set a timeline for new content AND recorded some new podcasts. Which is all great.

It leaves me wondering, though. Did this day of awesomeness happen because I had the “camera” rolling and the internal soundtrack playing, or did the awesomeness of my actions create the effect? Hmm, also kind of makes me question my sanity. Naaaaah, what kind of crazy man does that?

Maybe as a small experiment I’ll actually listen to an awesome soundtrack, create a John Williams playlist, say. Then play it to see if it effects my mood or output for the day. Definitely worth exploring.

Sometimes while people watching, I catch people bobbing along to a tune. Earbuds lodged in place, there’s no way of telling what they’re listening to. So I try to guess.

First instincts go straight to stereotypes. Teeny boppers and top 40. Punk, rock, or heavy metal depending on the severity of tattoos and piercings.The level of hardcore rap gauged by the droopiness of their pants.

Then I thought back on my youth and what I looked like compared to what I listened to. I looked like a band geek (probably because I was). One might guess me to be on the Academic Decathlon (they’d be right). But what was in my Walkman? Rock and heavy metal (well, what was considered heavy metal at the time).

Back to people watching. It’s more fun to brake past stereotypes. That guy with the two foot mohawk? A Disney Princess soundtrack. That lady in the smart pant suit? Thrash metal. That gaggle of grandmas power walking? Snoop Dog. Yes, much better.

Now a days I listen to tunes that cause spontaneous toe tapping. Things that bring smiles and not glowers to my mug. This is my current go-to playlist:

spotify:user:scgreen19:playlist:45VH3VGsGz9VUHQh4NAdny

It’s an evolving list. As I get tired of a song I’ll delete it, and add new ones as I find them.

I’m also a fan of Ska/Punk. In particular, I love a good Ska/Punk cover tune. And whadda ya know, Spotify already had an extensive playlist for me. Check it out:

spotify:user:billludwig:playlist:0uxgkOIkRVXe2Y8SRto7YM

That’s just a taste of the playlists I have saved. I have playlists to pull me from from a gloomy mood. I have playlists to put me in mind of a character I’m about to write. Playlists to wake up to, and playlist to laugh at. They’re so much easier to make than a mixed tape. Twenty points to those who get that and how hard they were to make.

Do you have a playlist? Share them in the comments. The less stereotypical, the better.

I started this blog a little over seven years ago. At the time I didn’t quite know what the focus of it should be. Most definitely it would cover my writing life. You see, I aspire to become a published author. The dream’s still the same, but I no longer have the delusion that it’ll happen over night.

Over the course of this blog’s life, the focus has changed. More accurately, it’s lost all focus. So here I am attempting to correct that.

There are three aspects of my life I want to bring into balance:

Mind, Body, and Spirit

What are the things I’m doing to stimulate my mind, to stretch its learning? How am I keeping my body healthy? And how do I acknowledge and commune with what I feel is bigger than me?

It sounds deep, and sometimes it might be. Many times, though, I’m more inline with Jack Handy’s Deep Thoughts than anything deeply devotional.

I want to share my journey in each aspect. Where I’m succeeding. Where I can improve. And never in a manner that makes it sound like I’m preaching or an all-knowing authority on anything.

My opinions are just that, mine. If you agree, great! Let’s talk about it. If you disagree, great! Let’s talk about it. In either case, I’m putting it out there for whoever to see.

This should bring better focus to The Shadowed Quill. And once it clears up, who knows what we’ll find. Maybe something cool, or maybe just the ravings of a lunatic. Should be fun either way!